It consists of 6 live online sessions(1:00-2:30pm Eastern Time, on the following Wednesdays; Sept. 13, 20, 27, Oct. 11, 25 & Nov 15), online discussion forums, reading and activities where participants will gain the skills and knowledge needed to evaluate, edit and contribute to English-language Wikipedia and to plan Wikipedia events for their community members, including:

Learning about the inner workings of English-language Wikipedia—understanding how the online encyclopedia is built by volunteer editors in an open and transparent environment.

As a result of participating, public library staff will be able to use Wikipedia to:

Engageand empower their community members to build information literacy skills and to access and create knowledge

Raise the visibilityof their libraries and their unique, local collections

Build on their own digital, critical thinking, and community engagement skills—and encourage their colleagues to do the same

Course work is expected to require a time commitment averaging 3-5 hours per week. This include the, 90 minute live online sessions, independent readings, online discussion forums, and activities between sessions.

Instructors

Primary instructors are Monika Sengul-Jones Wikipedian-in-Residence, OCLC and Betha Gutsche, WebJunction Program Manager. There will also be library practitioner guest speakers during each live session, and a mix of library practitioners and and Wikipedians answering questions in the forums.

Enrollment is now closed and the course is in progress.

If you have any questions or need assistance, please contact Dale Musselman

This course is made possible with funding from the Knight Foundation and Wikimedia Foundation.